Soul Calibur 5 PS3 Review

The soul still burns with this next instalment of a much loved fighter.
                 
               The Soul Calibur series has for me always been great, from the first Soul Edge (Soul Blade in the West) to the newest instalment this series has proven to be one of if not the best 3D fighters on the market. With that being said Soul Calibur V has a lot to live up to, and I have to say this much it is a step in the right direction and I think this one is by far my favourite one.

Being all Greek on ya

              The presentation in this game is excellent, top notch graphics and visual bring out the characters, stages, and the world in ways most fighters never even bother with. Each stage is vivid and full of life, some have battle's raging right beside yours and others have similar but equally great things going on. With the addition of some two tiered stages this has set the bar high for 3D fighting stages and hopefully we see other games try and breath some life into there fields of battle. The costumes are all super detailed and a beauty to behold even if some costumes are barely there. The music is one of the series strong points and as such is impressive, while Soul Calibur had my favourite music in the game I am torn between the orchestral pieces found in this game, they are quite good. The voice work is also top notch and if your a anime fan you will notice some of the bigger stars voices in this game, but if the English voice overs aren't doing it for you then switch to the Japanese voices. Though I would have like to see a option to toggle Japanese voices on certain characters but it isn't a big deal. The sound is great as well, swords clash and bones break and the sound that accompanies them are equally great and brutal to hear. Foot steps, jumping, and the sound of break ground are all impressive and it is good to because you will hear a lot of this if you are devoted to this game.

              There are a variety of modes which should sedated most players needs whether they want to go online or off. Offline there is your standard arcade, vs., training, a quick battle mode where you fight many different randomly generated characters, and the story mode. The story mode it self can be completed fairly fast which you'll need to do in order to unlock most of the characters, but honestly it's not that good, better then fours story mode by far but it needs to be better I don't even know what else to say. Online I have to say is again by far the best and most stable online fighter on the market. There were very few times if any that the connection dropped and I got kicked off. With that being said the modes are Ranked, Player (grouping fights and rooms), and in my opinion a most for fighting game the Global Colosso which is a open lobby where in real time you can see who's in it and challenge them. This is also where you can go for random matches and tournaments. This isn't tacked on online fighting, this is true fighting game multiplayer at it's best.

             Create a character is back and better then ever, with so many options to choose from you will literally spend hours customising your new characters and the regular ones. Unlike the last game you have free reign over how you want to customise the main characters, except for the guest they have never been allowed to be customised. With so many options to choose from and so many options for customising it will be hard for other fighters that have a similar system to not look at this one and implement it into their next projects.

                     So now lets talk about the roster, many new and old characters return to battle for the soul swords. They are:

Aeon Calcos (AKA Lizardman)
Algol
Astaroth
Cervantes de Leon
Edge Master
Elysium
Ezio Auditore da Firenze
Hildegard “Hilde” von Krone
Isabella “Ivy” Valentine
Kilik
Lord Geo Dampierre
Maxi
Mitsurugi
Natsu
Nightmare
Patroklos Alexandra
Alpha Patroklos
Pyrrha Alexandra
Pyrrha Omega
Raphael Sorel
Siegfried Schtauffen
Tira
Viola
Voldo
Yan Leixia
Xiba
Yoshimitsu
Z.W.E.I.

 
Now a few characters didn't make it in but have counter parts in this game; Take, Sophitia, Cassandra, and Xui all have counter parts in this game and you know what I don't mind them they are different enough but still feel the same as their older counter parts. Characters that didn't make it in for one reason or another; Seung Nima, Yun Seung, Talim, Zasalamel, Rock either way I wouldn't be surprised if they found their way into this game later on this year.

            In conculsion Soul Calibur V is the best 3D fighter out there and it plays and feels great, though the game play like all of them needs to be learned and tested till one finds their perfect style of play.

8.5/10

+Solid Game Play

+Create a Character

+Beautiful Music

-Learning curve is a bit steep